File the following under “You never know.”
Late last year, I received a letter from Larry Cole.
“Dear Ben, an unusual note, I’m sure, but destiny always seems to work in amazing ways for me,” he wrote. “I have some appreciation of aviation…The result is a weakness that caused me to buy what you see in the attached flyer.”
Larry had crossed paths with Jerry and Candy Meyers — long-time General Aviation News advertisers who are now retired. They suggested he contact me regarding the 200-foot, six-plane vintage hangar he’d acquired. As Larry put it, “If for no other reason, it may make an interesting story.”
I did connect with Larry. I wanted to know how a man who isn’t a pilot ended up with a massive vintage hangar.
His first wife, of 20 years, was a pilot. Her interests gave him the aviation bug.
Now 85, Larry spent 35 years in real estate, handling property deals and redevelopment projects. He told me a story about buying an 1880 Victorian-style home in Lyons, Kansas, back in 1990. I think it was his way of showing me his knack for seeing what a building could become.
He paid $1,500 for the house and had only months to move it. His solution? He chainsawed the home into pieces and trucked them to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He reassembled them under Gondola Tower #7, where the house still stands as an impressive rental (VictorianSteamboat.com).
Larry hasn’t owned that house for decades, but his vision placed that derelict Victorian in the Rockies. His drive made it happen.
The hangar in his flyer sits in Sterling, Kansas. Built in the 1940s for a grass airstrip that no longer exists, it’s lately been used to store farm equipment. But like the Victorian, Larry sees it as an intriguing Airbnb property.
His plan: Move the hangar to a picturesque airstrip, outfit the interior with stylish accommodations, and let a pilot “put their plane in their room.”
As Larry wrote, “destiny seems to always work in amazing ways.” If you think you might be part of that destiny, give Larry a call at 620-474-0750.
You just never know where things could go.
That would really put the “Air” in Airbnb.